Money manager who nailed two big market rebounds, says bet on these stocks next.

After calling the pandemic bottom, Hayes was among a handful of investors who turned bullish on stocks in October 2022 and October 2023, both big market turning points. For example, in October 2022, he took long positions in Amazon and Alphabet when “you couldn’t give them away,” and says they have no plans to sell.

Speaking to MarketWatch on Tuesday, Hayes admitted to his less lucrative bets — biotechs and Alibaba
BABA,
+0.19%
— tied to expectations for a faster recovery in China, but sees a turnabout coming.

“Now that the Fed is getting out of the way, I think it’s a rocket ship both in Alibaba and biotech,” he said.

Hayes, who blogs at Hedge Fund Tips, explains that there is money to be made in long-duration assets. “So those assets that were negatively impacted by high rates are going to start to outperform as we move into a great normalization period,” he said.

Biotech and real-estate investment trusts are areas to look at. As for the former, he says this year will be about “deals and drugs. So as capital becomes more available, as the Fed becomes more accommodative and risk appetite increases, you’re going to see a lot more yield,” he said. Big pharma has lots of cash, but little growth and innovation, and will need deals with undervalued biotech companies to make that happen, he adds.

Smaller companies are lagging a bit as they “have not yet started to behave in line with a rate normalization environment,” he notes.

What does he like? He owns Cooper-Standard
CPS,
+0.39%,
a global supplier of sealing and fluid handling systems and components for GM
GM,
+3.01%,
Ford
F,
+0.70%
and Stellantis
STLA,
+1.28%.
Shares have climbed to $18 per share from $6 when he first started buying in May 2022.

“There is still pent-up demand, because there was limited supply due to the semiconductor shortage just a year and a half ago and before. As those volumes return closer to prepandemic levels, the operating leverage in some of these auto parts suppliers to the companies producing new cars will be phenomenal,” he said.

He also likes Canada Goose
GOOS,
+0.49%

GOOS,
+0.54%,
“the Apple Store of luxury expensive jackets,” as it’s increasing margins and direct-to-consumer sales, and poised for a “good turnaround recovery story” looking out 24 to 36 months.

Hayes owns Comstock Resources
CRK,
-0.37%,
which sits in the “most hated” sector of natural gas. He sees it as a “turnaround play on global demand,” even though it’s currently a depressed asset.

As for the year ahead, he sees general stock indexes rising by “high single digits, low double digits [percentage], which would be in line with an average presidential election year average of 11.28% since 1928. So the bigger opportunities are going to be under the surface. And I think the Alpha opportunities are going to be found in small and mid caps and emerging markets plus China,” he says.

The markets

The S&P 500
SPX
is down, but it’s worse for the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
sliding over 1% as Treasury yields
BX:TMUBMUSD10Y

BX:TMUBMUSD02Y
also fall. Oil prices
CL.1,
-1.75%
are down around 1.7%, with gold
GC00,
+0.99%
up almost 1%. The Hang Seng
HK:HSI
fell as China manufacturing contracted again.

The buzz

It’s Fed day, with a decision due at 2 p.m. Fresh data showed showed 107,000 private-sector jobs were created in January, while elsewhere, the employment cost index rose 0.9%.

Microsoft
MSFT,
-1.42%
stock is down despite forecast-beating results, with Alphabet shares
GOOGL,
-6.51%
off 5% after the Google parent’s digital ad rebound disappointed. Advanced Micro Devices
AMD,
-4.52%
dramatically boosted its AI chip revenue outlook, but the stock is off 6%. Samsung
005930,
-2.15%
reported a 34% profit fall as chip sales couldn’t compensate for sluggish TV sales and share fell.

Boeing
BA,
+3.32%
stock is ticking results that beat on all measures, thanks to its commercial airlines business. Mastercard stock
MA,
+0.95%
is down after slower spending growth overshadowed a profit beat, and Boston Scientific
BSX,
+2.31%
is up on an earnings beat. Qualcomm
QCOM,
-0.39%
will report after the close.

Cardinal Health
CAH,
+1.99%
is buying multi-specialty platform Specialty Networks for $1.2 billion in cash.

Walmart stock
WMT,
+0.41%
is up after the retailer announced a 3-for-1 stock split.

Universal Music Group
UMG,
-1.08%,
which represents megastars such as Taylor Swift, warned it will yank songs from TikTok after a licensing deal expires.

Best of the web

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The chart

Daily Chart Report’s Patrick Dunuwila notes the financial sector ETF
XLF
closed at a two-year high on Tuesday, roughly 5% below all-time highs. “Financials have shown impressive leadership since the Oct. low. It has become the second-largest sector of the S&P 500, and it’s bullish to see that Tech isn’t the only area working,” he said.

Top tickers

These were the top-searched tickers on MarketWatch as of 6 a.m.:

Random reads

The humans chasing robots on the loose at companies.

A monk on a comic roll. The very first British joke.

Scottish zoo tracks its monkey on the lam with drones.

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